There was always a certain kind of charm to the old house trailer/rental hut at Mammoth’s Tamarack Cross Country Ski Center. Wasn’t there?

Um, no, actually, there wasn’t.

It was cramped for space, the stairs somehow always seemed whopperjawed in ice and snow, and not even the enduring charm of cross-country ski director Ueli Luthi could mitigate the scene.

This season, the house trailer is history except as a storage space. In its place is the old cabin from Sam’s Woods, and a new tent structure that is similar to the one at Little Eagle Lodge at Chair 15/Eagle Express.

On Tuesday, even as the first significant snowfall of the season was under way, workers from Mammoth Mountain Ski Area looked over the stretch of forest that the new facility will occupy.

As of this week, the cabin was in place, but no sign of the tent structure was evident, except in the minds of the workers and Clifford Mann, Mammoth Mountain’s operations chief.

Luthi himself was there, too, standing by the new (old) cabin that will serve as the entryway to the XC ski center.

Luthi has been here since the early ’70s, taking a break to be the coach of the U.S. Ski Team. He’s an unusual guy, in a good way, and has strong opinions.